Following Flawless Footsteps
by LocoLocko
Summary: Cobalt Ravenscroft is, like so many others, 17 and on his way to Beacon, hoping to follow his family in becoming a Hunter. He will soon discover the true meaning of being a Hunter, and what it means to leave your mark. Set 14 years before the RWBY timeline and The Black Knight, which this is a semi-prequel to, since it follows a side character from that story. Rated M just in case.
1. Chapter 1

**Following Flawless Footsteps**

**Chapter 1 - Welcome to adulthood **

A young boy once asked his father why his family were all Hunters and Huntresses. His father laughed gently, a deep laugh that showed years, if not generations of experience.

"Cobalt, we are Hunters because we enjoy it. We enjoy the feeling of knowing we are bringing peace to many people, even if they don't know it." It was the same thing he would tell his other children, when they eventually asked. It was a simple, but effective speech.

Cobalt felt at ease for many years following that chat, dedicating his every waking hour to be just as good a Hunter as his father before him. He aimed for Signal academy, then on to Beacon, the most prestigious Hunter training academy in all of Vytal. All his family for the past four generations had gone through Beacon, some even going on to become professors after graduation.

Upon reaching seventeen, Cobalt was finally ready to begin training at Beacon, both mentally and physically. His body had been trained in the gym, his mind at Signal. He wasn't a popular kid, but he didn't mind. It prepared him for the outside world, how not everyone will want to be your friend, how some people you work or even live with can be against you and everything you stand for. Maybe that was a bit extreme, but no one could deny that Cobalt held a dark air around himself wherever he walked.

For the last day of summer, Cobalt spent most of his time indoors, packing his bags and cleaning his weapons. His weapons of choice were a pair of three-quarter length silver pole staffs, each doubling up as a gun: Dusk was his right-hand weapon, housing a high calibre pistol in the barrel, and Dawn was his left-hand weapon, holding a buckshot shotgun. They were weighted so that most damage would come from the poles themselves, rather than having to rely on the guns at all times. Small indents on the handles of the staffs allowed for quicker swings without losing grip, but a trigger could be flipped down on each so that the gun components could be used mid-swing, especially with Dawn's shotgun.

Cobalt himself wore a royal blue, ripped sleeve jacket over a long sleeved cyan shirt, the jacket acting as a vertical holster for his staffs, with each one sticking slightly above each of his shoulders. He wore light, comfortable trousers which faded from the same blue as his jacket at the top, down to black at the bottom. His family crest, a large black raven, was emblazoned on the back of his jacket. His hair was also a vibrant blue, much like the rest of his family, and hung in a long fringe over the whole left side of his face, covering his left eye pretty much permanently. His visible eye was deep blue, seemingly reflecting light like an actual cobalt gemstone.

Having sat in peace for well over an hour, something had to ruin it. That _something_ was his little sister Rhea, only three years old but already full of the Ravenscroft spirit, who came toddling into his room in the same adorable manner every small child seems to pull off.

"Big brother, why are you going away?" she asked, tilting her head to the side as she did.

Turning around slowly, deliberately, Cobalt looked his sister in the eye and lowered himself to her level, over half his own height, before speaking, "I'm going to be like daddy, Rhea," his voice was trusting and deep, a voice that could calm any situation, "I'm going to hunt the monsters."

"I wanna be a Huntwiss when I'm big, just like you!" Rhea beamed, joy never more pure than that of a child looking up to their favourite sibling.

"_Huntress_ Rhea," her brother corrected her, something he never grew out of as a child.

"Hmmf, well, if I wanna be a _Huntwiss_ then I will!" the Ravenscroft spirit showing in her young voice.

Cobalt stood back up to his full height, looking down on his sister and ruffling her light blue hair, "Whatever you say Rhea, now go find Adalwin, I'm sure he wanted to see you about something." Lies. The middle sibling, Adalwin, was in the garden, practicing his sword skills, clearly not wanting to be disturbed. However, what kind of older brother would Cobalt be if he didn't annoy his little bro every now and again?

"Ok Cobalt, bye bye." And with that, the room was once more silent, Cobalt suddenly feeling aware of every slight sound around him: the tick of his clock, the hum of his radio, his bag falling to the floor as the weight became too much for it. Admittedly, that was a bit louder than the other noises and it drew Cobalt from his trance, moving over to his bed to pick the bag up off the floor.

Today was the day that Cobalt's adult life would begin. He was looking at the airship to Beacon with his bag slung over his shoulder, careful not to damage the holsters on his back. He saw a variety of people making their way to the transport, human and Faunus alike, some humans showing why Cobalt resented being the same species as them, picking on the Faunus students just for being Faunus. It made him sick how ignorant people could be.

A rainbow of colour passed him before the final call went out for the students to board the ship, the reality of the situation sinking in. He was almost where he wanted to be, and all he had to do was take three more steps into the awaiting carriage. Once inside, he saw that this was a brand new airship, and he was probably on its first flight. There was plenty of space for the 30 or so people on board to stand in comfort, though some chose to sit on the chairs and floor. As the doors closed and the engines hummed into life, Cobalt decided he would wait before trying to find someone to talk to, didn't want to look needy now.

Before anyone could speak to him, a hologram projected itself onto each wall of the carriage. It was of an elderly looking man, but one you wouldn't want to mess with. He spoke in what was supposed to be an authoritative voice, but one which came across all monotone and robot-like thanks to the speakers, "Welcome, future Hunters and Huntresses, I am Professor Ashensand, and I am here to welcome you to Beacon Academy. You are all here because of your skills in combat and strategy, which will eventually, yet currently wild and untamed, lead you on into a future of protecting Vytal from all that seeks to harm it." There was a break, and whispers were rising up from the crowd.

One girl in particular stood out to Cobalt, one with blonde hair and a purple cloak, who stood alone saying to herself, "That's going to be me one day."

The hologram of Professor Ashensand spoke up again, more clearly this time, "When you land, make your way to the grand hall at the centre of campus, where you will be introduced to your teachers and learn the basic rules of Beacon. I expect nothing less than the best from you. Good luck." And with that, the hologram left the walls and chatter erupted amongst the gathered students, eagerly discussing what had just been said and what they expected later.

"That guy can't be a hunter, he's ancient!"

"Yeah, but he obviously knows what he's on about."

"How strict is this place?"

"I don't care, I just wanna kill stuff."

Cobalt just sat back, resting down on one of the wall-mounted seats to listen in on snippets of conversation. Some of the people here seemed like they knew what was to come, but others looked like they had been plucked off of the street that morning, fear in the eyes of far too many people.

He was content just to watch and listen, but someone came and sat next to him, lowering the seat next to his and sitting down with an audible thud. "Hey, what do you think of that guy?"

"Hmm?" Cobalt didn't register the question, still trying to process that someone was talking to him.

"Professor Ashensand, what do you think?" fair to say, through the soft, slightly-too-sweet voice, this guy was persistent, albeit a bit rude. Before replying, Cobalt thought it polite to take in the peace-breaker's appearance. He looked to be a bit shorter than Cobalt, and not as muscly. That's not to say Cobalt was superhuman, he just liked to keep in shape. The boy wore simple looking, caramel coloured shorts and a t-shirt to match. A brown cloth sash was wrapped around his waist, partially concealing a hunting knife on each hip, which Cobalt estimated to be about a foot long each. He had a bit of armour on his arms, long bracers which trailed down over the backs of his hands from just below his elbows and shoulder guards aimed to cover his whole upper arms. Both parts of his armour were plain bronzed metal, not looking like it hadn't even been used in real combat yet.

"Nice to meet you too," Cobalt quipped back at the toffee haired boy.

"Oh yeah, sorry, forgot to ask your name," the boy rubbed the back of his head nervously, a silly smile spread across his face, "I'm Bailey, what's your name, blue?"

"My name is Cobalt Ravenscroft, pleased to meet you Bailey," formal but effective, no point in not being polite to him.

"Why are you pleased, I could be a dick for all you know?" he said in a half-joke fashion.

"Fine, go away then," Cobalt was never one for unfunny jokers.

"Wait wait wait!" the joker was waving his hands in front of his face now, trying to wipe the mistake of a joke from existence, "I'm not a bad guy when you get to know me."

"I'll keep that in mind… for when I get to know you," the Ravenscroft stood up, moving towards the door as he saw Beacon's landing pad approaching.

"Hey, wait up Cobalt!" Bailey attempted to call after Cobalt, but he had already lost him in the crowd of people. _How did he do that?_ The confused boy thought to himself, before soon giving up and heading back over to his seat.

About a minute later, the airship had landed and people had begun filing out. Cobalt aimed to get away from Bailey as soon as he could, hoping he would find someone of his calibre to associate himself with. He saw the same people from before, still laughing at the Faunus girl with floppy dog ears. It looked like she took none of their jokes to heart, she just walked away from them and pulled her cloak's hood up over her head, standing taller than most people around her. That was the kind of person Cobalt wanted to know, so he decided to break pace and speed up a bit, since the girl was already much further away from the ship than him.

As he got closer, he saw the girl's true height seemed to be around six and a half foot, a few inches taller than Cobalt. She wasn't a slender girl by any stretch of the imagination, her earthy-brown cloak hiding most of her muscle from anyone looking at her from behind. Even though her hood had been pulled up over her head, strands of long, oaky brown hair flowed down the front and sides of her chest. Combat trousers hid her muscular legs from prying eyes, durable but comfortable clothes designed for all sorts of uses.

"Excuse me, miss, were those guys bothering you?" he knew he sounded like something out of one of Rhea's story books, but it was polite to ask how a lady was doing.

"Cheers for your worrying, but I can take care of myself, hun," the girl had a very natural sounding voice, but with rough tones every now and again.

Getting level with the girl, Cobalt struggled to contain his nosebleed as he saw the girl's expansive chest, covered only by a pale brown tube top which barely reached the top of her breasts. He drew himself out of his daze quickly, subtle wiping away the small trickle of blood below his nose before continuing to speak, "Glad to hear it, so what may I call you?"

"You're far too formal for your own good," the girl jested, a slight shake of her head accompanying a soft giggle, "but you can call me Terra. Terra Harrows."

"Hah, I guess I am a bit formal, but nice to meet you Terra, I'm Cobalt Ravenscroft."

"Ravenscroft, huh? Like the Hunter family?" Terra's interest was piqued by this, her pace slowing a bit so Cobalt could slow down a bit.

"Yep, that's us," the Hunter-to-be gestured to himself with both arms, spreading them wide after pointing at his chest.

"Wow, never thought I'd meet one of you guys, you're legends!" Cobalt blushed at this, it was the first time someone had wanted to meet him.

"I'm flattered Terra, but my family are the Hunters, I'm just in training. We are all equal here."

"I'm glad _someone_ thinks like that," she replied flatly, gesturing behind her with her head.

"People like them make me sick," Cobalt spat at the floor, "and I can't apologise enough for their ignorance."

"It's fine, really," Terra patted Cobalt's back firmly, "they don't bother me anymore, but not every Faunus can ignore them like I can." A silent nod was exchanged between the two, then they remained in that silence until they reached the hall. It was surprisingly full, many other students already gathered in the wide hall. The pair assumed that they were the last airship to arrive, and that all these students had gathered from other stations across Vale.

Once firmly inside and away from the draft of the door, Terra took her hood off, revealing the true length of her hair. It went down almost to her butt, but as they took their seats, near the back of the room, her hair trailed down the back of the chair instead. Everyone else from their carriage followed them in shortly, filling the rest of the hall.

The hum of conversations died down as a microphone was tapped against the stand at the front of the hall, sending loud bangs through the speakers. Professor Ashensand stood at the pedestal, with three other people stood behind him. There were two females and another male professor, all much younger than Ashensand, his sandy brown suit doing nothing to make him look any younger. "Greetings, future Hunters and Huntresses," Ashensand began, "and welcome to Beacon, the elite amongst Hunter training academies, drawing in the best hopefuls from across Vytal. Some of you out there will go on to do great things in the name of Beacon, and we will always be here to support your development."

Light applause rose from the crowd, but it was silenced as one of the other professors stood up and moved towards the stand. He was considerably younger than Ashensand, about 30 years old at the oldest, and had jet black hair and wore a slim suit, also black. He tapped the microphone before speaking into it, "Thank you Professor Ashensand, I will take it from here." his voice was crisp and every word was said with emphasis, "Students, my name is Professor Artemis Nightshade and I will be taking you for most of your early classes, specifically, your initiation test tomorrow morning." Cobalt and Terra shared a quick look between themselves, slightly worried looks on their faces. "You will be sent into the Emerald Forest to retrieve a relic, returning in teams of two. More will be revealed to you in the morning by myself and my twin sister, the other Professor Nightshade you see before you, Luna Nightshade." He gestured with his hand behind him towards one of the female professors sat behind him. Her appearance was almost identical to her brother's, except a more feminine frame and longer hair.

Artemis continued speaking after his sister took a bow, "The other lady on the stage will be your Aura training teacher, Professor Opal Radiance." Again, he gestured with his hand, the appropriate lady standing up once more. She had shimmering blonde hair that went just passed her shoulders and a smile warmer than any star that seemed to never leave her face. Her clothes were pure white, her blouse and skirt combo accompanied by a rapier at her waist.

After Professor Radiance sat down, and the few immature wolf whistles had died down, Artemis finished the introduction speech, "You will now go to the dorm room where you will ALL be spending the night. This will be a good chance for you to get to know some of your peers, some of which you will be spending the next four years with, so please, try not to kill anyone." A veil of silence had been cast over the students, until some of the more restless ones took the joke as a cue to leave, dashing for the nearest exit while most just sat and watched them fall over their own feet.

A third-year student led the new guys to the dorm room, but Cobalt and Terra were too far behind them to get a good look.

Once they arrived, Cobalt was greeted by a familiar voice, "Hey Cobalt, over here!" Bailey was sat in the middle of the room, the edges having already been claimed by the quicker arrivals, and he was calling Cobalt with no shame at all.

"Do you know that guy?" Terra whispered as she leaned her body across to Cobalt.

"Sadly, I do, but at least we have beds now," Cobalt replied, his head dropped down by his chest with embarrassment. The pair walked over to Bailey, in the very centre of the room. It was where Cobalt wanted to be, but not the company he was expecting. They sat down on two of the mats around Bailey's already claimed bed roll.

"Hi, I lost you when we got off the ship, where'd you go? And who's your friend," his questions grated against Cobalt's ears, but it was better than being with people he didn't know at all, so he allowed himself a small smile at the company.

"Sorry Bailey, I wasn't… feeling myself," _that sounds believable_, "and this is Terra, we met up before going to the hall."

"Oh, hi Terra, I'm Bailey," he offered his hand for a shake, which Terra took full advantage of, almost crushing the poor guy's hand.

Noticing what she did, as well as Bailey's eyes tearing up, Terra put her hands to her mouth with a little out of place gasp, "Sorry sorry sorry, I don't know my own strength sometimes."

"It's ok, I know mine and it isn't a lot," the toffee haired lad whimpered out, clutching his throbbing hand. He looked up to see his assailant's face, then he noticed her ears, "Ohmygoshohmygoshohmygosh you have the most adorable ears!" he practically squealed at the sight, "Can I touch them? Please?"

"Uh, sure thing Bailey," she certainly wasn't expecting that, but she didn't mind the attention. She leant her head forward and was met halfway by Bailey's eager hand, which was much softer than she thought it would be for a guy.

He sat stroking her ears and head for a few minutes, Cobalt watching with a bemused look etched on his face. He thought Bailey was odd, but this was beyond what he thought he would do; you don't just ask a Faunus to play with their animal bits! Thinking that a couple of minutes was long enough, Terra cleared her throat loudly, snapping Bailey out of his stroking trance; trances seemed to be common today.

"Sorry about that, I just… your ears were just…" the words struggled to escape Bailey's frantic mouth.

"It's fine, hun," Terra reassured him, putting an arm around his shoulder and pulling him close, a bit too close for his liking, "if I'm honest, I liked the attention."

"Anyway," Cobalt interrupted, readjusting his fringe to better cover his left eye, "I never asked much about you two earlier. Bailey, care to start?"

"Sure thing Cobalt," he cleared his throat a few times before he found the right words, "well, my name is Bailey Shweetz, and I have lived in Vale all my life. I've seen 11 Vytal tournaments that I can remember, and since the very first, I have wanted to be like the people I saw competing. I later attended Signal before ascending to where I am now, my trusty knives seeing me through any hardships," he tapped the mentioned items at his waists before continuing, "these guys have a small power supply in the handle, which I fitted myself to allow me to electrocute something I hit, nasty if I stab into something then turn it on." A mischievous grin crossed his face, clearly thinking of how he misused the electric function.

"My turn, I think." Terra picked up after noticing that no one had taken centre stage in the conversation, clearing her throat before she began, "Cobalt, you already know, but my name is Terra Harrows. Much like you Bailey, I was bought up in Vale and watched the tournaments as a kid, but not until I was already at Signal. You may have noticed the bulge under my cloak, which is…" she took her time removing the robe, tapping her feet in a drum roll style. When she dropped the cloak to the floor, the boys eyes were drawn to the massive double-edged sword strapped to the Faunus' back, shimmering in the late afternoon sun. It had to be almost as long as Terra's body, and just as powerful. "You boys like my puppy?"

Bailey saw the chance for a joke, and he took it by the balls, "Let's just say I wouldn't like to see it in heat."

"You know that's offensive, right?" Terra shot Bailey an annoyed glare, but then broke into a large smile after Bailey's face dropped its smile, "Just kidding hun, I don't take offense like that, but you might want to keep the Faunus jokes on the lowdown, not everyone is as friendly as me."

"To be fair, humans aren't much better," Cobalt pointed out, winking in Bailey's direction.

"Hah, too true," Terra leaned back on her 'puppy', the point digging into the floor slightly, "your turn Cobalt."

The Ravenscroft leaned his head back, his fringe momentarily moving from covering his eye, just long enough for Terra to spot the hidden eye. This sparked her interest, so she spoke up again before Cobalt began, "Don't mind me asking, but why do you cover your eye?" Bailey was now equally interested, leaning in closer to Cobalt.

"Well, I guess because it's not mine," he said, almost nonchalantly, as if that was a totally normal thing to say. Both listeners mouths were wide open in a mix of shock and confusion, their eyes questioning what their mouths struggled to say. Noticing the strange looks he was receiving, Cobalt thought it best to continue speaking, "I guess I should explain it a bit more then? Well, when I was young, I lost my eye to a stray sword swipe during my father's practice, my own fault really, I got in the way and he didn't see me coming. My left eye was made useless and it needed urgent treatment, so we headed straight for the hospital. However, the only thing they could do there was offer me a Faunus' eye, since he had just, y'know, passed on. Since I was young, my body wouldn't reject the new eye, so it would mean I would keep my sight." He released a deep breath, the others' mouths finally closed, but their interest no less there.

"Well?!" the others said together.

"Fine, but I don't like doing this," he warned them, slowly moving his hand up to his fringe, the other two leaning in just as slowly. Cobalt lifted the blue veil, and hidden underneath was a pure white wolf eye, which seemed to draw in all the light from around it. Bailey and Terra were both close enough to touch Cobalt's face now with theirs, and he could feel their breaths on his stubble, so he moved his head back, drawing the others forward and causing them to fall onto his legs and chest.

After helping the others back up into a sitting position, he replaced his fringe over his face, smoothing it out like it was before.

Bailey spoke up, and a rather intelligent question came from his lips, "So, I guess that makes you part Faunus?"

* * *

**Locolocko: Well, after only weeks of deliberating, I did a thing! Cheers to my good friend Aristotle for the inspiration, all of which coming from his story "The Black Knight", in which Cobalt is a character but older, since his story follows the RWBY series timeline. **

**Cobalt: What the...? Where am I? Who are you?**

**Locolocko: Well, I am you and you are me, hi Cobalt. I write your life.**

**Cobalt: Ok, that's only slightly creepy.**

**Locolocko: Don't complain or I'll unwrite you.**

**Cobalt: Fine, fine. So what are you doing now?**

**Locolocko: Just a quick afterword to the readers, y'know, kind of like signing off.**

**Cobalt: Right, just do it quick, I want to go to sleep.**

**Locolocko: Ok, well, bye readers, see you next time! Oh, and I don't own RWBY, just as a disclaimer.**


	2. Chapter 2

**Following Flawless Footsteps**

**Chapter 2 - Shine bright like a... CBLT?**

An early start was all but compulsory for the students' first full day at Beacon, the PA system blaring into life almost as soon as the sun was up. The morning rays shone through the large windows of the hall, illuminating the multi-coloured sleeping figures, some already awake while others refused to get up.

Cobalt was an early riser by nature, but this was ridiculous even for him. He rolled over on his mat, his clothes still as they were from the night before, if a bit creased. He saw Terra still fast asleep, her dog ears flopped over her eyes and her hair covered most of the floor around her, while her cloak acted as a second blanket for her. Bailey was already sat up, awake, on the other side of Terra, but he seemed to be staring up at the ceiling with glazed over eyes, clearly deep in thought.

"Morning Bailey," Cobalt said loudly, loud enough to wake Terra up with a small jump and loud enough to break Bailey's staring contest with the ceiling.

"Ah… uh, mornin' Cobalt," Bailey replied nervously, as though he had forgotten everyone else was in the room with him, "hey Terra, s-sleep well?"

Terra just groaned and flopped her head back down onto her pillow, grumbling into it something about ripping the PA from the wall and shoving it somewhere unsuitable for young ears to hear. The boys shared a laugh as they poked her until she woke up, and they were the last people sat in the room, all the other little groups far more ready than they were. Not surprising, they didn't have six and a half feet of Faunus muscle to wake up.

Once they had shaken Terra awake, most of the other groups had already gone into and then left the locker room, save for a few mismatching shades of weirdoes ready to greet them. Cobalt saw about 10 people were still in the room, one of which he recognised from Signal, one of the few guys who didn't hate him, too. Gris Valliant was your typical ladies' man, handsome, charming and always ready to dash in to save someone in need. He was exactly as Cobalt had left him at the end of last year, wearing a sharp grey suit with matching trousers and his favourite trilby, grey of course. His pistol sword hung at his side, glinting in the early morning light, looking as intricate and glorious as any large-scale death machine could with the hilt of the sword holding an archaic looking pistol.

Walking up to him like an old friend, which wasn't totally untrue, Cobalt tapped him on his shoulder, causing Gris to turn around quickly in shock. His features softened as he saw the familiar blue fringe of the young Ravenscroft, a cocky smile gracing his face.

"Hey Fringey," Gris greeted him in their old manor.

"Nice to see you too, Hat boy," Cobalt retorted, "how've you been since Signal?"

"Not too bad, upgraded Malice's pistol, gave her a bigger magazine," proudly tapping his sword at his waist as he spoke, "and you? I see you made some friends." Gris had looked behind Cobalt while he had been speaking, noticing Bailey and Terra stood behind him near their lockers.

Cobalt turned back, Bailey giving a large wave while Terra was a bit more reserved. Looking back to Gris, Cobalt saw he had been staring at Terra, "See something you like?"

Snapping back to attention, all attempts to look subtle out of the window, Gris stumbled over his words for a few seconds before crisply replying, "She looks nice, care to introduce us?"

"Sure," Cobalt shrugged, "why not?"

They walked the short distance back to Cobalt's new friends, Gris trying to hide his wandering eyes from Terra. When they got to the others, Cobalt made the introductions, "Gris, these are Bailey and Terra," he said pointing to each of them in turn, "guys, this is Gris, a friend from Signal."

"Hey Gris, nice to meet ya," Bailey piped up from behind his open locker door.

"Hi, Bailey, nice to meet you too," Gris then switched his attention to Terra, "and what a pleasure it is to meet you, Terra. Not very often you meet such a… delightful Faunus."

Terra barely suppressed a giggle at Gris' over the top display, holding out her hand for a shake as opposed to speaking. Gris accepted, but like Bailey before him his composure was shattered by Terra's strong grip. "Not so _delightful_ now, am I?" Terra joked through her own cocky smile, leaning in to whisper in Gris' ear.

Gris simply shook his head, his eyes tearing up and rendering his voice almost useless for a moment as he tended to his swelling hand. Terra let out a hearty chuckle, slapping Gris on the back for good measure as Bailey and Cobalt looked on with smiles on their faces, lightly shaking their heads as Gris walked back to his own locker.

When they had finished preparing, Cobalt, Bailey and Terra walked out of the locker room, feeling totally ready for any challenge Professors Nightshade and Nightshade had prepared for them. They saw a notice on the corridor opposite them, telling them to go to the cliffs overlooking the Emerald Forest. It didn't say anything about the challenge itself, but Artemis had said he would explain when they got to him.

It didn't take too long to walk to the cliffs, since they could see others flying through the air every now and again. It was a bit unsettling, but they shrugged it off as all part of today's 'events'. Drawing closer, their line of sight was blocked by a thin row of trees, but after passing through they saw eight other people stood by some metal plates in the ground. There was Gris with four other girls their age, Gris seeming to be getting along with all of them, then the two Nightshades and a small child, around six years old, who was clung next to Artemis Nightshade. She was the spitting image of her father, only with her auntie's cold stare.

"Nice of you to join us, you three," Artemis announced as he saw Cobalt and the others approaching, "it seems we are ready to begin."

The eight gathered students took their places, Cobalt, Terra and Bailey at the far end of the pads away from the Professors. Gris was happily surrounded by the four girls, but was shook from his fantasies as Artemis raised his commanding voice above the low level of chat, "Welcome to the first day of the rest of your lives, students. Today, not only will you be forming your teams based on the outcomes of the trials before you, the same teams you will spend your entire time at Beacon with, but we shall be assessing your skills in combat and survival. No matter what happens to you in the forest, we shall not come to your assistance, so you must rely on teamwork to survive." There was a small break in his speech, allowing the students to glance between each other, sharing nervous expressions. Artemis spoke up again after he had regained all attention, "Not to put any additional pressure on you, but my daughter Viola will also be watching via the monitors, so try not to show yourself up in front of a six year old."

Viola just stood there, her black and purple dress looking far too sinister for such a young girl, but it somehow suited her and her black hair. Her stare focused on Cobalt for a bit too long for his liking, but he saw her expression soften as she looked away. He let out a breath he didn't even know he was holding in as Luna Nightshade began to speak. "You will be launched into the Emerald forest via the platforms you are stood on," everyone looked down at their new best friends, "you will land using only your own stopping techniques, any way you can. Once you land, the first person who you meet eyes with will be your partner, and the first member of your future team. You will travel in pairs to the old ruins at the northern end of the forest, where you will retrieve and return one relic to us here."

"Sounds simple," Artemis spoke up again, "but be warned: this forest is dangerous and not all students survive this test. If you are in trouble, you are in trouble for real. Good luck."

Artemis pulled out his scroll from inside his suit and pulled up an imposing looking button, which he promptly pressed. As he did, the far right student was flung into the air, her pad slowly lowering itself back down to its original position. Then the next student did the same. And the next. Then the next and so on until only Cobalt was the only one left. He steeled himself against the inevitable rush of air, then it hit him like a brick wall.

Flying through the air, he saw the others landing at various points in the forests, most dropping unceremoniously through the thick canopy. All except one, a girl in a green skirt, shirt and jacket combo with hair to match. She was gracefully gliding down thanks to her parasol, which seemed to be strong enough to hold firm against the oncoming gusts. Slowly, she entered the trees and disappeared from view.

Soon enough, Cobalt approached the trees and readied himself. He pulled out his two staffs, readying Dusk's pistol function and Dawn's shotgun. As the first large tree approached, he shot Dusk's first shot towards it, making a hole large enough to jam Dawn into then fire the shotgun, launching him backwards towards a second tree, the process repeating between the two trees until Cobalt had almost reached the forest floor. As the floor approached, Cobalt took a deep breath and fired the rest of Dawn's dust supplies at the floor, slowing him considerably so he could land safely. It wasn't as graceful as he was hoping, but no one saw it.

Or so he thought. The green girl from earlier was stood behind a larger tree, peeking out at Cobalt's ungraceful decent and giggling to herself. The sound was unsettling in such a dark location, unnerving to Cobalt who whipped around to face the sound, but only seeing a flash of green hide behind a tree. Tentatively, he stepped forward, Dusk pointing towards the girl's position.

Like a game of cat and mouse, the pair circled the large tree without looking behind themselves. Cobalt soon stopped and turned around, and the girl thumped into the back of him, falling to the floor with a soft 'Oof!' sound. Seeing that she wasn't a threat, the young gentleman leaned a hand down to help her up.

"Th-thank you," she stuttered out, not expecting to be found so suddenly, "I… guess this makes us a team?"

Cobalt chuckled, then finished pulling the girl to her feet. He spoke softly, so as not to scare her too much, "I guess it does. I'm Cobalt, by the way. Cobalt Ravenscroft."

"Lily," she replied, "Lily Blossom." She had a very bubbly voice, a little too cheery considering their surroundings. Cobalt gave Lily's appearance the once over, since he would have to spend the next four years with her. As he saw from the air, she was dressed all in green, her short combat skirt looking even shorter and less defensive from here than before. Her hair was done in a long braid which trailed all the way down her back and to her thighs, where it swished like a tail. Her parasol was still up, which she held behind her right shoulder to protect her from any stray beams of light. But no matter how hard he looked, Cobalt couldn't see any weapon about Lily's body.

"So, Lily," Cobalt said a bit too forcefully, "I have my staffs, but I can't see your weapon. Where is it?"

Lily idly spun her parasol behind her, "You must have really bad eyesight," she joked, "try using both eyes." Again, she twirled her parasol and giggled as she did.

He still couldn't see any sign of a weapon, until he felt like a massive idiot, smacking himself in the face, "It's the parasol, isn't it?"

A very bubbly laugh escaped Lily's lips and she nodded her head eagerly, "Yep, took you long enough," she  
drew out the last word for far too long in Cobalt's opinion, "I thought Hunters were meant to be observant." She shot Cobalt a sly wink and then poked him in the chest with the handle of her parasol.

"So, how is it a weapon?" Cobalt asked as he reloaded his staffs.

"I'll show you." She pulled the parasol in front of her, pointing it away from Cobalt before pushing the top half of the handle up towards the fabric, which began folding upwards into a sharp point. The parasol soon took the form of a sharp spear, about as long as one of Cobalt's staffs. He noticed that the ends and insides of each fan of the parasol had a fine metal coating on them, which came together at the tip of the spear and coated it. The 'pole' of the spear was sturdy from the metal coating, so it could be used as a staff if Lily needed it.

Before he could ask for a demonstration, a roar came from behind Cobalt, followed by three others shortly after. The pair turned to face whatever was approaching them, weapons drawn and ready to fight, Cobalt's trigger fingers twitching at the fought of fighting Grimm.

They weren't left waiting long, as four Ursa shot forward from the thick line of bushes, one towering over the three minor ones, clearly the alpha of the small group. Cobalt and Lily shared a quick look, nodding to each other before running up to face the closest two Ursa, the alpha staying back to watch the fight. Cobalt dashed to the right Ursa, with Lily taking the one on the left. As he approached his upright target, Cobalt jumped and landed in a sliding position, sliding through the Ursa's legs and hooking his poles around his ankles, toppling the Grimm behind him so he could shoot him in the back with Dawn's shotgun while keeping the other smaller Ursa behind him at bay with Dusk's pistol.

Lily had somehow leaped over the Ursa she was facing, jabbing her spear in its back as she did but pulling it out as she landed, causing a large spurt of blood to arc out of the creature's back. It landed on the ground next to her, but to her surprise, the Ursa stood up, if a bit shakily, and turned to face her. Since there was a lull in Cobalt's battle, he spared a look Lily's way, and what followed was one of the most graceful things he had ever seen. Like a cross between a ballerina and baton twirler, Lily pirouetted towards the Ursa while spinning her spear around her hands, slicing at the creatures face and simultaneously blocking any attempts at an attack. Feeling the creature weaken, Lily stopped spinning on her foot and jumped into the air. She aimed her spear down towards the Ursa's head and span in the air, her momentum turning her into a green tornado bearing down on the Grimm.

It was incredible to watch, but Cobalt had let himself get distracted and the alpha had taken the opportunity to close the gap between them and swipe with his powerful claws, too quickly for Cobalt to fully dodge. His face took most of the hit, blood now seeping through his blue-turned-red fringe as he fell to the floor. He propped himself up with his poles, noticing Lily now dealing with the other small Ursa with little difficulty. The alpha went to swipe again but Cobalt was ready this time, jumping out of the way with some help from his shotgun, only just clearing the Ursa's head and managing to shoot with Dusk, a small red hole appearing on the alpha's back. This only angered it, as it began to swing violently at Cobalt, who was dodging every attack by the skin of his teeth.

Lily had handled her second Ursa with little difficulty, a few scratches dotted around her jacket, but nothing she couldn't fix. She looked over to see a very tired looking Cobalt being backed towards a tree by the alpha, blood pouring from both fighters, painting a path from one of the other dead alphas. Lily rushed in to help Cobalt but only managed to get hit by a stray arm, hitting her back against the still form of one of the smaller Ursa. She decided that range was her ally, and, taking a strong grip on her spear, she threw it towards the back of the Ursa's head.

Cobalt saw Lily get hit backwards, but he still couldn't find an opening for an attack. He kept blocking, blocking and blocking some more, waiting for his chance. But then something unexpected happened. The Ursa fell forward with its arms suddenly going limp, giving Cobalt moments to jump out of the way and into a low branch of the tree he had been backed up towards. From above, he saw Lily looking over at the Ursa, and the spear embedded in its skull. Her spear. Her spear she had used to save Cobalt's life, and not for the last time.

"Thanks Lily," Cobalt shouted from his perch, jumping down next to the Ursa and taking the spear out of his skull, handing it back to Lily, "I guess I owe you one."

"I'll remember that," Lily said with a cheeky wink, "shall we find those ruins?"

"Let's."

Following the sounds of other people, it didn't take long for Cobalt and Lily to exit the forest and find a small clearing, in the centre of which were ruins. There were pedestals lining the side of the ruins, each seeming to hold a small orb, which Cobalt assumed were the relics Nightshade was on about. He could see Gris by one of the pedestals, a purple coated girl by his side, and in her hand was a small white orb.

"VIOLET!" Lily called, seemingly at the purple girl, "Over here!"

Gris and 'Violet' both turned around , Gris waving at Cobalt and 'Violet' waving at Lily, who decided to run towards the other girl and embrace her in a huge hug. Cobalt followed slowly, not feeling the need to hug Gris too badly, but the ruins did intrigue him.

As Cobalt approached, Lily made the introductions, "Cobalt Ravenscroft, meet my twin sister, Violet Blossom." Once she said it, it did seem rather obvious; the two were identical, colour-swapped copies of each other, Violet even wearing the same type of clothes as her twin, except they were all a light purple. She even matched her sister's parasol spear, again, light purple.

"Hi Cobalt, thanks for looking after my little sis for me," even her voice was the same as Lily's, both as bubbly as a freshly run bath.

"Actually," Cobalt began as he scratched the back of his head, "she… kinda saved my life. And I thought you were twins? How's she your _'little' _sis?"

"Oh, we are," Lily said with a playfully sharp look to her sister, "but she just can't let go of the 30 seconds difference." The twins stuck their tongues out at each other, giggling as they did.

Gris cleared his throat loudly, snapping the girls back to attention, before he turned to speak to Cobalt, "What happened to your eye, bud? Didn't think red was your colour." Even though he was joking on the outside, Cobalt detected a hint of worry in his voice.

"Alpha Ursa, but Lily took care of it," Cobalt waved the fact away, Violet looking at her sister in amazement.

"Wow, sis, that's awesome!"

"I know I am," Lily chirped, both Blossoms sticking their tongues out at each other again.

Cobalt decided it was time to check out the relics on the pedestals, pulling Lily away from her double so she could look too. There were lots of empty pedestals, but some still held their relics, orbs of four colours, containing small symbols which Cobalt remembered represented the elements of earth, air, fire and water. Violet's orb must have been the air orb. There were two earth orbs, one water orb and one fire orb left on the pedestals.

"Shall we take an Earth one?" Cobalt asked Lily.

"Yeah, I guess," Lily shrugged, picking the closest one up and playing with it in her hands, "it's kind of heavy."

As they began to walk back towards Gris and Violet, a familiar figure burst through the tree line, "Hey Cobalt," it was Terra, who seemed to be a bit out of breath, "we found a new friend."

Bailey was flung out over the trees, screaming like a little girl as he flailed his arms about trying to find something to grab on to in mid-air. Following him was a Death Stalker, looking rather wounded but just as pissed off with Bailey and Terra. One claw was dragging along the floor, but he was still looking persistent in its hunt.

As Bailey came to land in the ruins, he picked up the second earth orb and stuffed it into his pocket, running back over to Terra to help with their 'problem'. The four others ran over, introducing themselves to Terra and Bailey as they joined them at the forest's edge, then vice versa.

"Lily."

"Violet."

"Gris."

"Bailey."

"Terra."

"Ok guys, we need to work as a team here," Cobalt acting as commander, "girls, take the claws while the guys and I keep the tail distracted."

"Right!" the others all called out at once, dashing forward like a long-time team.

Gris took shot first, firing his pistol sword at the base of the Death Stalker's tail while Bailey jumped up onto its back, running along and slashing with his knives as he went. Cobalt joined him just in time to block a swipe aimed at Bailey with his poles, throwing the tail away with all the strength he could muster.

"Cheers Cobalt," Bailey panted as he jumped onto the creature's tail, digging his knives into one of the gaps in the tail and switching the electric function on as high as it would go. It wasn't enough to severely harm the creature, but enough to send the tail into a frenzy. As it whipped around, Bailey was once again flung off and sent flying over the trees, thankfully taking his knives with him.

While this was happening, the Blossom twins were dancing there way along the Death Stalker's claws, jabbing into the joints as they went. Soon, the right claw was completely useless and only serving as a dead weight to throw around savagely. Terra had been holding off the left claw with her 'puppy', the sword just as powerful as the claw it was blocking. Terra even seemed to be enjoying herself as the twins jumped over her shoulders and onto the claw, jamming it open with their sturdy spears. Terra nodded at the twins in appreciation as she swung her sword around in a full circle before connecting with the base of the claw, cutting it clean off from the rest of the Death Stalker's body. The twins jumped down to grab their spears, but picking each other's up instead, tossing them to each other over the twitching claw.

Bailey once again ran back to the fight, throwing an electric knife into the base of the right claw just as it was about to hit Terra, who was still busy admiring her handiwork on the left claw. The swing was cut short as fresh pain shot through the creature's body, bucking Cobalt off of its back before he could fire a final shot into the base of its tail. Gris jumped up to meet Cobalt, catching him before either of them got anywhere near the floor.

"You didn't have to do that, Gris," Cobalt complained through a smile, "I had that all under control."

"Of course, Cobalt," Gris replied, dropping him just before they hit the floor, "whatever you say, bud."

Once they were all stood together and Bailey had retrieved his knife, Violet took charge, "Ready everyone?" There was a unanimous nod, "Then fire!"

All guns were fired at the same time, the two spears and knives both being thrown too, joined shortly after by Terra's double edged sword. They struck down the creature's face and back, finishing it for good. Their first day of training, and they had already killed a Death Stalker, one of the most deadly creatures of Grimm there were.

"Well, time to go see Nightshade," Lily chirped from behind the others, holding her earth orb high above her head and gazing into it deeply.

A few hours later, all first year students were gathered in the main hall on orders from Professor Ashensand. Following on from today's initiation exam, the teams would now be formed.

They had been sat there for about half an hour, most of the teams already formed and sat down together. Cobalt and the other five from earlier were sat down together, joined by the other girls from their test. One of the girls had unnaturally beautiful red hair which seemed to flow like the light of the sunset, down to her orange and red bodysuit which shaped her form like a supermodel. The other girl was less fortunate with her looks, a slightly shorter girl with thick grey hair but a very natural smile. Her clothes were ordinary, nothing much to say apart from how her grey trousers and her off-white blouse made her look mature beyond her years.

One by one, students were called to the stage and left as teams.

"Now, will the pairs of Violet Blossom and Gris Valliant, and Nelly Phant and Katie Solaris please join me on stage?" The four called students walked up, looking as nervous as all the others before them, "For your skill in today's trials, and for collecting the air relic, you shall be team VKNG, led by Violet Blossom."

Violet didn't register what had just been said, until a shout from her sister in the audience caught her attention, "WOO! Go Violet!" Violet blushed at this and mouthed a silent "Thank you" at both her sister and Professor Ashensand. Team VKNG bowed in front of the audience, then promptly left the stage.

"Now, will the pairs of Cobalt Ravenscroft and Lily Blossom, and Terra Harrows and Bailey Shweetz please join me on stage?" Like VKNG before them, the four of them walked towards the stage with nervous grace. As he stood on the stage, Cobalt looked out over the crowd, spotting Gris smirking with his team full of girls. He was drawn out of his mild envy by Ashensand speaking up again, "For your valiant courage and leadership skills, and for collecting the earth relic, you shall be team CBLT, led by Cobalt Ravenscroft."

It was a dream come true, like his father and mother before him, he had become a team leader. But, as his father told him long ago, _"One day, you will have strength of your own, but a responsibility to those closest to you. You must know what you value more."_ Under his breath, Cobalt muttered to himself, "I know now father. I know."

* * *

**Locolocko: So Cobalt, how's life been since we spoke last?**

**Cobalt: You should know, _you _wrote it.**

**Locolocko: Funny, everyone's a comedian.**

**Cobalt: Just get this over with, I'm sure the readers don't want to listen to you rant.**

**Locolocko: Fine, fine. Ok, so thanks to everyone who has taken time out of there day to read my fanfic, please let me know what you guys think. Special thanks to Aristotle, a good friend who has given me nothing but encouragement. If you don't know him, search for The Black Knight and you won't be disappointed.**

**Cobalt: Ok you, time to sign off, go write me something fun to do.**


	3. Chapter 3

**Following Flawless Footsteps**

**Chapter 3 - Into the night**

Once the teams had been formed and Professor Ashensand had wished them well, all teams were allocated a dorm room. The teams would live in these rooms, sleeping with their teammates for the next four years, so teamwork and cooperation were essential for survival at Beacon, and not just in the combat training. The keys for the dorm rooms were digital, held on each team members' scrolls, so only they could unlock the rooms.

On team CBLT's corridor, there were four rooms; two on each side of the room. Luckily, they had VKNG next door to them and another nice-looking team opposite them, team VXEN. Sadly, the final room on the corridor belonged to team ROYL, which contained the… unsavoury students from the airship the day before, the very ones that had been taunting Terra.

Walking down the length of the corridor, which had been cast in an amber glow by the setting sun, Cobalt whipped out his scroll from his royal blue jacket and unlocked the door like it was second nature to him. He walked in first and held it open for the others, first Lily, then Terra and Bailey together. They were the last ones to get to their room, so they were happy to get off of the silent corridor. Inside the room, Cobalt saw only the bare necessities had been supplied. There was a bed for each of them, all lined up against the far wall by the two large windows, as well as two wardrobes, one on either side of the surprisingly large room.

Lily was the first to take action against the bare room, throwing multi-coloured streamers – seemingly from nowhere – all across the walls, beds, windows and the ceiling, before leaping onto the right-middle bed and shouting "Mine!" repeatedly. Terra decided to take the other middle bed, a bit more graciously than Lily. The boys shrugged at each other, taking the far beds for themselves. Cobalt went to the bed by Terra, and Bailey to the one by Lily. The room already looked like it had been the site of the biggest party in Vale, but this was just the beginning.

"Y'know guys," Terra began after a long silence of unpacking, "we could move the beds all into the middle, like a circle, so the guys don't need to be antisocial all the time." Sat at the opposite ends of the room, the guys leaned over the ends of their beds and looked at each other, shrugging again, feeling too worn out to argue with Terra but not too tired to move the beds.

For the next 10 minutes, Bailey was thankful for Tetris as a child, guiding the others and their movements around to fit the beds into a small block of four. When they were done, Cobalt and Bailey's beds were against the back wall, length ways beneath the windows. Terra's bed was next to Cobalt's with Lily's next to Bailey's, and all their feet were at the middle of the square.

Impressed with their decoration and arrangement, team CBLT decided to go to the main hall for their first team meal. As they left and Lily locked up, Cobalt saw teams VKNG and VXEN leaving their rooms too, also heading for dinner. While team VKNG had three girls and one guy, VXEN was an all-female team, made up of Velvet, Xenovia, Eris and Nala, all of whom he paid particular attention to at the team forming ceremony.

Velvet Vixen was, in all ways, a foxy woman. She had cropped ginger hair with a pair of orange fox ears pointed out through it. Her face was slender, much like the rest of her body, with shimmering yellow Faunus eyes and orange glossed lips. She wore a small red ribbon around her neck which seemed to be worked into her sleeveless top from behind. Her legs were covered by an orange skirt, black leggings and knee-length black boots. On the back of each boot, there was a holster, containing a short dagger with ruby coated hilts, completely ornamental but beautiful to look at.

Xenovia Bleu was another attractive young woman, her blue hair done in a bob style that went just past her shoulders. A large samurai style sword was strapped to her back, the hilt just sticking out behind he left shoulder. She wore a multi-blue hued kimono, covering her entire upper body and the tops of her legs. The rest of her legs were left bare, showing her flawless tan off to any who looked.

Next came Eris Blaine, who seemed to be an embodiment of chaos itself. Nothing seemed to match in her looks, her spiky blonde hair, glowing red eyes and multi-coloured chequered blouse all clashed, but she somehow made it work. Her weapon didn't seem all that normal either. It looked like a hula hoop, only the edge was serrated like a carving knife, as sharp as Xenovia's samurai sword and in places it was curved up, designed to slice away any… unwanted limbs. Thankfully, she wasn't bringing this to tea.

Finally, there was Nala Tigress, the second Faunus of team VXEN. She was a dark skinned, dark haired cat Faunus. Her ears were that of a tiger, as with her whole family. From the high standard of armour she wore, even if it was only on her chest, shoulders and around her waist, it appeared she was a close combat fighter. That became more apparent when Cobalt saw her the second time in the corridor. Around her wrists, she wore thick metal bracers which covered her entire hands, which had two long thin lumps along the back of each 'glove'. All her armour, including her gloves, had a tiger print pattern on it; black and orange strips.

After he had finished inspecting the ladies, they were already nearing the dinner hall. The tables were set up with eight seats set up at each one, allowing two teams to sit together for meals. Since they already knew VKNG, CBLT decided that they should sit with them tonight, each team taking one side of the table each.

"So Gris," Cobalt casually began after everyone had sat down with their food, "what's it like to share a room with three girls?"

Gris choked on the food in his mouth for a second at the question, Katie knocking him firmly on the back to try and help him. Once he had recovered, Gris composed himself to sound more presentable, "I'm sure I'll survive," his cocky grin flared up as he looked down the line of girls on his side.

Only Katie saw the grin, stepping in to the conversation before Gris got any lewd ideas, "Don't get ahead of yourself mister," her voice was authoritative and striking, much like her bodysuit, "or you might just find yourself _joining_ the girls, if you know what I mean…" The last part was almost a whisper, but Gris and Cobalt both heard it loud and clear.

Gris gulped and shot his hands down to his crotch, covering it from the threat, "No no, I'll be good," the now submissive gentleman blurted out, much to Cobalt's amusement.

"Good boy," Katie smiled, patting Gris on the head like a dog, "now let's talk about something a bit nicer, shall we?"

"How about you Katie?" Cobalt chimed in, "I know Gris and a bit about Violet, but nothing about you and Nelly." The grey girl twitched at hearing her name, suddenly becoming interested in the conversation next to her but continued to eat her food as Katie began to speak.

"Not much to tell, I'm afraid," Katie sounded almost disappointed at her own words, "I don't know much about my parents, they just abandoned me at the doors of Signal when I was only a few years old. The teachers took me in and, naturally, I learned how to be a Huntress, training in private from a young age with whatever weapons were left lying around. CQB, snipers, long sword, you name it and I can kick your ass with it." She finished her speech with a smirk playing across her face.

"So what _do _you use?" Lily spoke up from next to Cobalt, now also interested in the conversation.

"Well, I have this," she said, tapping at a large ring on her finger, "it's a shield, when I open it that is."

"Isn't that heavy, being a full shield and all?" Lily asked, the ring almost glowing in the late evening light as she looked at it.

"It used to be, but you get used to it," she shrugged off the thought, deciding to go back to her weapons, "but in terms of weapons, I carry a whip around my waist and two wide blade axes on my back." Gris was already lost when she said 'whip'. "When I'm feeling particularly destructive, I can link the axes into the whip and spin them around like a maniac, it is sooo fun." A full smile now graced her youthful face, while Cobalt and Lily just looked at each other with fear in their eyes.

"You almost killed me in the forest," a soft voice spoke up from next to Katie, coming from an annoyed looking Nelly.

"Hey, it's only because I didn't know you were there! Didn't your parents ever tell you not to sneak up on a maniac swinging axes around their head?"

"Not that specifically, no."

Katie just groaned at this, while the other listeners just giggled at the short girl's sense of humour.

"What about you, Nelly?" Cobalt asked, "Anything interesting to share?"

She pondered on this for a second, raising a finger to her chin and lightly tapping at it. After almost too long, her quiet voice spoke up, "Nope, I'm not that interesting, probably the same happened to me as it did to most other people here: older family member was a Hunter, went to Signal, came to Beacon and now sat in this hall." Her tone was dry, very little emotion to show off her personality, much like her grey choice of clothing.

An awkward silence fell over the students as they went back to eating their nondescript meals. The rest of the meal was uneventful, not much conversation and very little getting to know each other. After waiting for everyone in CBLT to finish eating, they made their way slowly back to their dorm room, trying to burn the route into their memories for any late-night explorations. It wasn't too bad for Terra and Cobalt, each with their Faunus eyes' night vision, even if Cobalt's was limited to just the one eye.

Since their corridor was close to the halls, it didn't take long for them to make it back and slip in quietly. Shutting the door behind her, Terra forgot all subtlety and began to undress without warning the guys, who turned around at exactly the wrong time. Her cloak had dropped to the floor, her skirt joining it shortly, as well as blood from Cobalt's nose. Lily bounced in between the two guys and the still oblivious Terra, covering the guys' eyes with her hands, but sneaking her own look back at Terra's body.

Lily gently moved the guys towards their beds, moving them around her and Terra's beds somehow. She turned them to face the window so Terra could finish stripping in private, although Lily still felt like watching without even realising she was doing it. Soon enough, Terra had worked her way out of her day clothes and into an earthy night gown, unnaturally feminine on the giant Faunus. She looked over to see Cobalt and Bailey with their noses still held to the windows by Lily, who didn't seem to want to let them, or her blush, go.

"Did I miss something?" Terra asked with genuine confusion in her voice.

"N-no, nothing at all," Lily blurted out, her high voice going up an octave, "nothing like you casually stripping with no warning!"

"What!? I always do that, I guess you'll just have to suffer," she winked at the guys as they turned around, their heads now free from Lily's grasp.

"Just to put it out there," Cobalt spoke up, quietly, "I didn't mind."

"Pervert!" Lily shouted, jumping back to him and slapping him on his cheek mid-jump. To top it off, she landed with full force on his feet, which had already shed their protective layer of boots.

"This isn't the _best_ start, guys," Bailey said as he rolled his eyes, though Cobalt was too occupied with his face and feet to notice anything going on around him. "Come on, shake and make up you two."

Standing taller to try and hide the pain he was feeling, Cobalt gritted his teeth and attempted to smile. He extended his arm for a shake, but he suddenly found Lily had been pressed against him by Terra, who clearly thought a hug was what was needed right now. Bailey felt left out, though, so he joined in the hug, wrapping his surprisingly long arms around the group from the side.

This lasted for some time, a bit too long for Lily who found she had lost her air supply, her face and chest having been pressed against Cobalt's chest for the entire time. Cobalt wasn't exactly comfortable, but he wasn't about to complain any time soon, letting Terra and Bailey pull away from the over the top group hug first. Lily soon shot back, breathing heavily with a blush just as heavy covering her face.

Cobalt cleared his throat loudly, drawing Terra and Bailey's attention but making Lily fall backwards onto her bed, "Sorry about that Lily, but after that, do you think we should finish getting ready?"

"Yeah, but even with the lights off we can still see each other," Bailey pointed out.

"Some of us don't mind," Terra smirked.

"Not all of us have night vision!" Bailey shouted back, waving his hands in the air for added effect.

The young Ravenscroft just giggled at his friend's argument, already planning ahead.

"And what's your master plan, Cobalt?" Bailey was just mindlessly angry now, and no one was sure why.

"Well, have you heard of Semblances?" he asked as he crossed his arms, feeling smug in his knowledge.

"Yes."

"Yeah."

"Um… no."

Everyone turned to Lily, who was looking confused, more than Lily's usual that is.

"Well," Cobalt began, sitting down next to Lily on her bed, "some people in this world have unique abilities, or powers. Some can control weapons, others have heightened senses, and some have what some people call magic. These powers manifest from our Auras, and my Semblance links into my… borrowed eye." Lily tilted her head, since no one had told her about Cobalt's 'addition'. "Oh yeah, I haven't told you about that. Well, long story short, I needed a new eye after an accident and only this one was available," he lifted his fringe to show Lily the Faunus eye.

"Oh, that's beautiful," Lily spoke in a hushed voice as she lifted her hand to touch Cobalt's face, entranced by the pure white eye. Not many people reacted like that, so Cobalt let her continue, but she pulled herself away just before she touched his face, "Um… you were saying something about Semblances…"

Cobalt shook his head, pulling himself back to the conversation, "Y-yeah, anyway, it turns out that the owner of my eye had a dark Aura, and that leaked into my Aura, giving me my Semblance: I can remove all light from an area, plunging the area into total darkness. Even Faunus can't see in my darkness, except for me."

There was a stunned silence in the room, but the rest of CBLT all knew what the others were thinking, _show us_. Being the most sceptical, Terra voiced the notion, "Well then, demonstrate, little mister Semblance."

"Fine, just don't walk into anything," Cobalt smirked, barely visible in the low light of the room. Soon, even that low light was enveloped, a soft glow coming from Cobalt's hidden eye before that too was no more. His teammates were all trying to look around in the darkness, but to no avail as Bailey almost fell over his own feet.

Terra was amazed, it was like being a human in the night, and for the first time in her life she couldn't see in the darkness. And this scared her, she didn't like feeling vulnerable and losing a sense was as vulnerable as she could be.

Within half a minute, she dropped to her knees and started to shout, "Stop it! Please make it stop!" Without a second thought, Cobalt closed his eyes tight after seeing his new friend in such distress, shutting off his Semblance.

As the features of the room and each other came back into view, Bailey and Lily squinted to find Terra, who was still sat sobbing on the floor with her head in her hands. For the non-Faunus, it wasn't that bad, since they were used to losing their sight in the dark, but it was easily more disorientating than anything they had done before.

While they were recovering, Cobalt had leant down to comfort Terra, wrapping his arms around her shaking form and pulling the big girl into a warm embrace. It was odd for him to see her so small, so helpless, and it scared him, but he had had to comfort others like this before, back when he didn't have control over his Semblance, or The Shade as his siblings had so graciously called it. On the plus side, Rhea loved playing hide and seek with him when he could control it.

When she had calmed down, Terra looked up to see a very caring look on Cobalt's face, and that Lily and Bailey had got changed for bed and were sat talking between themselves on one of the beds. Looking back to Cobalt, she realised she was still sat in his arms like a lost child, so she gently pushed herself away and stood back up to her full height.

"I'm sorry, Terra," Cobalt sounded saddened, maybe that she didn't like what happened or that he had scared her, "I didn't mean for you to… react as you did."

"It's… it's fine," Terra replied solemnly, looking down at her feet, "just, please don't do that again." Fresh tears flowed down her cheeks as she spoke.

"I won't," Cobalt put a hand to Terra's shoulder before he continued speaking, "only if I have to, for any serious reason, but never without warning you first."

"Thanks Cobalt," her voice had returned to almost normal, "now, I think we need our rest after our… experience." The others sat on the bed nodded, Bailey yawning for added effect.

Cobalt chuckled before replying, "Fine, but I still need to change, so can you guys look away?"

"Sure," came the simultaneous, almost robotic group reply.

Once he was changed and everyone was in their beds, Lily leapt up with some newly acquired energy and switched the lights off, jumping back into bed somehow before the light left the room.

"Goodnight everyone!" Lily shouted into the silent darkness, earning groans from the others.

"Night Lily," the others mumbled back.

One last thought that went through Cobalt's mind before he dropped off to sleep in the surprisingly comfortable bed, _This is going to be a long four years._

* * *

**Cobalt: What took you so long?! I was getting bored in that hall!**

**Locolocko: Sorry, been buried by work and revision, but I'm back now.**

**Cobalt: Fine, fair enough. So, what's next?**

**Locolocko: Well, you guys have lessons like everybody else, so have fun learning. I'll try to make things _interesting_ for you though.**

**Cobalt: Great, just great, I'm sure everyone wants to read that stuff.**

**Locolocko: Oh, they will.**

**Cobalt: I don't like that look, Locko.**

**Locolocko: And with that, I bid you adieu. Until next time guys, leave reviews or PM me if you have any interesting ideas you think should be put in, and you might just get into FFF.**


	4. Chapter 4

**Following Flawless Footsteps**

**Chapter 4 - Ahh, young rivalries**

It happens to all of us; we are having such an amazing dream, just about to get to the best part and before you know it, an annoying beep fills your head and you are plunged back to reality, the dream all but fading away. For Cobalt, he was all too familiar with this feeling, reaching over to his side to slam down the alarm clock. But he had forgotten he wasn't in his room, and where his table should have been he felt the bumps not too dissimilar to that of a woman. And angry, sleepy Faunus woman to be exact.

Without even waking up, Terra flung the 'pervert' over her shoulder, towards the sound of the beeping scroll and away from her resting bosom. Luckily, she managed to hit Cobalt against the scroll and stop the beeping, but, _somehow_, Lily and Bailey were already awake. Cobalt was definitely awake, his early morning flight wrenching him from any thought of going back to bed.

But with another early morning came another attempt to wake up Terra. It seemed that Cobalt was going to have to get used to the hulking mass refusing to wake up in a morning, especially in such comfortable beds with such soft sheets.

"Noooo," Terra's cries of complaint were muffled by her sheets, but the rest of the team could still hear the whinging Faunus.

"Lily, do you want to try today?" Cobalt offered from where he had landed, nursing his bruising head as he spoke.

Lily cracked her knuckles, then her arms and finally her neck. "No problem," she calmly said as she stepped over to the side of Terra's bed facing the door. She took a firm grasp of the soft sheets in each hand and pulled with all the strength her tired body could muster, failing miserably to move the sheets even an inch from Terra's sleeping form.

Groaning in defeat, Lily's head dropped along with her arms as she made her way back to her bed to sit back down, her flowing green night gown crumpling beneath her.

The boys looked between Lily, then Terra and then each other, an evil plan springing to life inside Bailey's mind, "Shall we find out if she's ticklish?" he asked with a dark glint in his usually light and innocent eyes. At the suggestion, Cobalt facepalmed; he had tried tickling his sister once, and almost needed a trip to the hospital.

"Sure," Cobalt smirked, anticipating Bailey's imminent doom, "you can get beaten up if you want."

Despite Cobalt's warning, Bailey was already inching his way over to Terra's bed, his fingers flexing as he went. As he approached the bed and moved his hands over where the barrel of her stomach would be, he soon discovered three things. Number one: yes, Terra was ticklish. Number two: yes, tickling her will wake her up. And number three: no, never ever tickle her unless you want a trip to the emergency room. Much like Cobalt, he was nursing his face, blood spilling from his lips and nose from where Terra's rock-solid fist had made contact and left a perfect knuckle print.

Against her will, she was now awake, forced to look upon the damaged faces of her male teammates as Lily just looked and laughed openly at their pain.

"For the record," Terra half yawned though her words, "that was your fault." She pointed at Bailey with her very heavy feeling arm, realising the whole of her sheet was draped across it instead of her barely-clothed body.

After Bailey had been seen to by Lily, the team got dressed in their supplied uniforms for their first day of lessons, black suits and trousers with a white shirt and red tie for the guys, with the girls being given a similar black jacket with a red plaid skirt and white shirt. Each person carried their weapons with them, Bailey and Terra adding their cloth sash and earthy cloak respectively. The sash didn't seem to hold any purpose or power, but Bailey never wanted to be without it.

As they made their way down the corridor to the main hall, they saw that only one other team was sat in the hall. Sadly for team CBLT, it was ROYL. Cobalt had never had a true chance to see these people, but he had heard enough from the other groups.

Sat at one end of the table was their leader, Rudyard Alberts, a snobby young man with an ego bigger than an Alpha Ursa, and intelligence to match. He came from a long line of Hunters, usually wearing the armour more commonly seen on a knight riding into battle, plate metal coving his entire body except his square face. Atop his face was a short mullet of ruby red hair, showing off his receding hairline with flare. Like a knight, he fought with a long sword and a body covering shield. His shield was an inverted teardrop shape bearing a large red cross which he kept on his back.

As Cobalt had seen first-hand, Rudyard reserved a particular sliver of his hatred for Faunus, despising them just for being Faunus. Sadly, this trait wasn't limited to Rudyard, as many people lived in fear of the White Fang, a Faunus organisation which have been linked to many of the recent terrorist activities, making many people fear or hate every single Faunus.

At the other end of the table sat the Princeton twins, Orpheus and Yin. Unlike Lily and Violet, these twins were identical, even down to both having their left ear pierced with the same style of onyx gem. Their pitch black hair was slicked back behind their ears and down their necks, stopping just above the collar of their black suit jackets. They both wore the same jacket and black trousers combo, even wearing the same style of black formal shoes, not much different to the school uniform. Where they differed were their weapons. Orpheus was all about ranged fighting, being proved by his rifle strapped to the back of his suit. It appeared to be standard issue but modified with a knife built into the handle which could be pulled out and used at will, while still leaving the rifle fully functional. Yin however was a close quarter's fighter, his large double-faced mallet leaving no reason to say otherwise. The handle of the mallet was as long as his twin's rifle, but thicker than most people would deem reasonable. Cobalt had been told by Gris that in the handle was a makeshift bazooka fuelled by dangerous levels of highly explosive dust. On each of the flat ends of the mallet was his personal symbol, the black yin part of the yin-yang symbol surrounded by small black circles.

Finally, sat facing the back wall with his back to the rest of the room, even his team, was Lothar Waan, the man so introverted and reserved not many people knew what he was even like. Much like Rudyard, he was a military type person, normally sporting plate metal body armour. Unlike his leader, he wore a partial face mask which hooked around the back of his head, covering everything up to just below his eyes. From what he had heard, Cobalt was under the impression that Lothar hid a brutal wound beneath his mask, but no one knew for certain. He also never spoke, using his eyes and body language to convey his opinions and feelings, even if he didn't have much to say most of the time. Even though he was only 17, he was fully bald, not even eyebrows grew on his scarred dome of a head, another possible effect of his facial injury. Some of the more notable scars formed a faux fringe of permanently damaged skin, all over the right side of his head.

Deciding they wanted to stay as far away from ROYL as possible, Cobalt and the others got their breakfast and sat by the opposite wall, overlooking the city below.

There wasn't much of a conversation, apart from the odd comment on the weather or the day ahead. Until, that is, Lily noticed the Princeton twins looking over at her from their table by the far wall. It wasn't even like it was a quick glance, they were both silently staring at her while tilting their heads to the left, causing the green half of the Blossom twins to look away to her teammates sharply. Bailey noticed the sudden twitch from Lily first, so he decided to check on her.

"You okay there Lily?" Bailey asked after clearing his throat, "You look like you've seen a ghost."

"N-no, I'm fine," the creeped out Lily sputtered back, "it's just… _they _are looking at me." She pointed a finger slowly in the direction of the still-staring twins. The others followed her gesture, Cobalt and Terra turning slightly to look over towards ROYL.

Being her leader, Cobalt decided to take matters into his own hands, "Don't worry Lily," he reassured her as he stood up from the bench, "I'll go see what's up."

Before she could object, Cobalt had already crossed most of the hall, only one table standing between him and ROYL.

"Excuse me, but would you mind telling me what you're doing?" he spoke in an authoritative tone, snapping his targets' attention fully away from his teammate.

What happened next really creeped him out. Without missing a beat, the dark duo sat before him began speaking together, completely in sync, "We are displeased by your traitorous team member," Cobalt had never heard a stranger pair of voices, identical in tone, pitch, pace and monotony, "she has abandoned her sister, choosing to find you – a stranger – instead of looking out for her twin. Does she no longer love Violet?"

"You know that people are allowed more than one friend, right?" he gave the pair a disapproving look, shifting his gaze between the two of them and their leader, who had been sitting back and watching from the other end of the table. "And besides, Lily hasn't _abandoned _her sister, and she is _not _a traitor, they have just chosen to take different paths through Beacon. Maybe you two should give it a try sometime."

The twins never changed their shared expression during Cobalt's speech, but Rudyard had got bored by it all, stepping in abruptly, "This isn't your fight, Ravenscroft," he slammed his metal clad fist onto the table as he stood up, "let your women fight their own battles, my team and I have more important matters to attend to."

"I'm being a leader, Alberts," Cobalt replied, calmly as ever, "you should appreciate such things."

Rudyard wasn't a reasonable man by anyone's standards, and he definitely didn't tolerate being talked down to. He gritted his teeth, grinding them audibly before replying, walking towards Cobalt as he did, "Do you doubt me, boy?"

When he got close to Cobalt, who turned out to be exactly the same height as him, they were looking each other in the eye, trying to psych each other out.

"Don't talk down to me, Rudy, we're the same age."

"That may be, but my family have more respect our little toes than yours does in its entirety."

"But this isn't about family, no matter the reputation," Cobalt stood a little bit taller at this, staring down at the 'man' beneath him with his one revealed eye, "now, will you settle this like a man, or hide behind a soiled heritage?"

There. The trump card. No matter the circumstance, no member of the Alberts family shied away from a verbal challenge. "Have it your way! At the duels today, me and you," he had closed the gap between them to less than a few inches now, "then we will see who has more honour." He pushed Cobalt away from him, before calling to his team and walking away, "Yin, Orpheus, Lothar. We're finished here."

And with that, team ROYL had left the hall, but not without the Princeton twins taking one final look back at Lily. Lothar, who until now hadn't seemed to have taken any interest in the rest of the room, turned his scarred head towards Cobalt and looking at him directly in the eye. Even though it was only brief, Cobalt could have sworn he saw sympathy in those green eyes, and a small shimmer of out-of-place kindness. Maybe he was even smiling under his mask. He was sure the rest of ROYL wouldn't notice such things, so Cobalt decided to remember it for another day.

Back at CBLT's table, the others were all sat on the side of the table facing where ROYL had been, discussing what had just happened while finishing their breakfasts. Seeing Cobalt sit back down, all attention was turned to him.

"So, what was all that about?" Bailey asked, his high voice a polar opposite of Cobalt's previous verbal partner, "We saw the dick square off with you, but we couldn't hear anything you were saying."

"Basically, he wants to fight me at the training duels later, saying he needs to honour his family for some reason," Cobalt shrugged it off, returning to his coffee which was just turning cold.

"And the twins?" Lily asked, her innocent voice sweetening Cobalt's coffee in his mouth.

"Ah, yes," he began, putting his cup back on the table, "they believe that you've abandoned Violet, leaving her in favour of total strangers." Lily just gawped, her mouth hanging low in shock. "Yeah, my thoughts exactly."

"Why would they think I abandoned her?!" Lily practically screamed, the windows behind her vibrating loudly from the pitch, "I love Violet, and we both chose to find new teams, that way we can make more friends, like you guys and VKNG." Seeming to match her mood, her braid seemed to lose its colour a bit, looking greyer than usual.

Terra reached around Lily's back and pulled her into her strong embrace, "Don't you worry about those guys, honey," her voice oozed a kind of motherly affection as she smothered Lily with her chest, "we know you love your sister, who wouldn't? My big bro and I get along like a house on fire, and even though we aren't joined at the hip like those freaks, we still care for each other and we both know it."

Lily sighed into Terra's words, savouring her warmth. Her braid soon regained its vibrant green colour as she thought about what Terra had said and how silly she had felt when she let the Princeton twins get to her. Then, an idea came to her.

"Hey, we should have… a party!" she exclaimed as she freed herself from Terra's grasp, jumping into the air as she shouted her favourite 'p' word.

This was met by various looks from the others. Terra was slightly shocked, since she didn't expect anyone's mood could change so quickly. Bailey jumped up and down in his seat, his eyes beaming at the thought of a party. Cobalt was more reserved, a simple happy smile spreading across his face, but inside he was reacting just like Bailey.

"Sounds like a plan," Terra spoke up after she had calmed Bailey's bouncing, "who's coming?"

"Well… I guess us, and we can ask VKNG and VXEN if they want to come too," Lily put a finger to her chin as she thought about the plan in more detail.

The rest of breakfast was uneventful at best, so the team joined the rest of their class in their first lesson of the day. They had joined five other teams in the lecture room with the male Professor Nightshade stood behind a large wooden desk at the front. Cobalt only recognised three of the five other teams, the only other three teams he bothered to learn: VKNG, VXEN and, sadly, ROYL. ROYL were sat alone on the right of the room, with the four rows on the left being filled by the other teams.

Instantly regretting being the last to arrive, Cobalt led his team two rows behind ROYL, sitting on the very back right row. He was met by a glare from Rudyard as he sat down, one matching the fury of his hair colour and his hatred of Faunus all in one go, the type of glare Cobalt had only ever seen from his sister when she really wanted something. He just looked back into his apparent rival's eyes before turning his attention to the front of the room, where Nightshade had moved to stand in the middle of the large chalk boards.

"Welcome class, as you should remember, I am Professor Artemis Nightshade and I will be your main tutor for your first week, then your classes will be shared between Professor Ashensand, my sister and myself. Today, I will be easing you in with an introduction to your futures at Beacon and some basic Hunter history, so no need to make notes." There was a collective sigh from the room, as notepads were put back under the desks and pens were returned to pockets.

Some students took this as an opportunity to zone out, Lily included, as she thought hard about the party she was planning. Others around the room slowly followed, hushed conversations beginning on the left of the room.

Most of what Nightshade was saying had already been said, either at Signal, home or in the hall on the first day. It was mostly that they would be tested beyond anything they had known before, that they were here to enjoy their training and 'most importantly, make friends'. The few students that were still paying attention groaned at the overused cliché while others feigned interest entirely.

By now, Lily had wrote the invitations to the party on her concealed note book, quietly tearing out the pages to hand to the others as she passed them on the way out. Cobalt had got bored listening to Nightshade's recycled speech, so him and Terra were idly chatting away about the later lesson. Bailey, however, was fast asleep at the end of the row, a small trickle of drool slowly leaking into his black jacket.

As the lesson was drawing to an end, Bailey was ripped from his dreams by Nightshade finishing his personal history lecture, "And BOOM!" he cried, slashing down on the air with his rapier, "The beast was slain by my sword, and the academy was saved. But, as with most things in life, I couldn't have done it alone, which is why you must learn to work as an effective unit if you are to succeed." He stopped talking, sheathing his rapier as light applause rose from the gathered students, now all awake and paying attention.

As the applause died down, a bell sounded at the back of the room, causing all the students to rise noisily from their seats. Lily was the first out of the room, intercepting Violet and Velvet as they left with their teams to give them the surprisingly intricate invitations. They took the papers and inspected them with the rest of VKNG and VXEN as they made their way to the next class.

Cobalt and the others joined Lily in the corridor as ROYL left the room, the two teams having a small-scale staring war before ROYL marched ahead, eager to get to the practice duels. CBLT followed them at a distance, letting the other teams lead them to the hall.

"Are you sure you want to do this Cobalt?" Lily asked from behind her leader, "It isn't that big of a deal." Lily's voice sounded so innocent, but an unusual fear was present in it too.

"Don't worry Lily," Cobalt dropped in line with his teammate as he walked, "someone needs to show him what the real world's like sooner or later." His warm smile reassured the small girl beside him, making his smile even more genuine when he saw her replicate it.

Terra just grumbled to herself, walking a few paces behind the other three. It wasn't clear what she was saying, but most could guess it wasn't going to be pleasant.

Barely a couple of minutes had passed before the six teams from Nightshade's class found themselves in the hall, the stage cleared of all furniture and obstructions. The only thing in the room other than the gathered teams and the stage was their Aura trainer, Professor Radiance, looking resplendent in her pure white attire, framing her curvy figure enough to rival Katie's bodysuit. Despite being in a team full of girls, Gris still wolf whistled when he saw Opal Radiance, earning him a slap from Velvet, Katie and Nelly in turn. Even though there was quite a gap between Cobalt and Gris, he could still hear his old friend say "worth it" through his pain.

Once everyone had gotten within view of the stage, Radiance spoke up for the first time, "Welcome class, who knows what's going to happen here?" Her voice was youthful yet regal, a calming tone to juxtapose her job.

Rudyard spoke up, loud enough for everyone to hear his fury, "We're going to fight, and Cobalt and I will go first!" He pointed an accusing finger in Cobalt's direction, the crowd parting to form a small channel between the two team leaders.

"Well aren't you keen, Mr Alberts," Radiance chimed, thankful someone took an interest in the first duel class of the year, "do you accept Mr Ravenscroft?"

"I do," he called back to the stage, still holding his rival in his eye line.

"Then if you two could get changed your own clothes, we will begin."

A few minutes later, Cobalt and Rudyard were stood facing each other on the stage, Cobalt in his blue jacket, long sleeve cyan top and blue-to-black trousers, Dawn and Dusk drawn ready, and Rudyard in his full suit of armour, with his long sword held in his right hand and his large inverted teardrop shield in his left.

Before the two launched themselves at each other, Radiance clapped her hands loudly a few times to draw everyone's attention back to her, "Okay everyone, this duel will aim to show you how Aura is used in combat. As some of you may know, your Aura is an extension of yourself, and can protect you in combat. Some have stronger Auras, but others have much weaker ones. However, with my training, you will all learn how to use your Aura to the best of your ability." There were hushed whispers rising from the crowd, but Cobalt was blocking them all out by now. He knew the strength of his Aura, and it wasn't something to dismiss quickly.

"Okay boys, are you ready?" Both combatants nodded mutely. "Then let's begin, and remember, I will be monitoring your Auras and will stop the fight when one of you enters the red zone." She showed the monitoring system on her scroll to the rest of the group before moving to the side of the stage.

"Ready?" Rudyard asked.

"Let's do this."

And with that, they ran towards each other, Rudyard brandishing his shield in front of him. Cobalt saw his armour was tough, except in the joints of his arms and legs, so these would be his targets.

Aiming Dawn beneath him as he ran, Cobalt fired her shotgun just before he reached his opponent, launching himself over Rudyard and hitting him in the back of the head with Dusk as he spun in mid-air. This stunned Rudyard for just long enough for Cobalt to land in a crouch and regain his composure before Rudyard could mount a counterattack. Alberts raised his shield once more, holding his sword out to the side and preparing for another cheap shot.

But it didn't come; Cobalt just stood up to his full height and beckoned Rudyard over to him, taunting him with his hand while spinning his pole in the other hand. Everyone watching could see that this was getting to the usually controlling man, his square head shaking with rage as Cobalt just stood 'playing' with his weapons a few meters away from him.

He soon got bored watching the display, charging wildly at Cobalt with his sword glistening in the sunlight. But no matter how distracted Cobalt looked, he was fully aware of what was happening, watching Rudyard's movements out of the corner of his eye. As he got closer and raised his sword above his head, Cobalt took a firm grip of Dusk and fired a pistol shot at the top joint of his sword arm. Sadly, it just missed its mark, lodging itself into the shoulder plate of his armour but throwing him off balance, causing him to almost drop to the ground. He held his composure but stopped his advance, choosing to raise his shield for the time being.

At the side of the stage, Radiance was keeping a close eye on both fighters' Auras. Cobalt still had an undamaged bar and Rudyard was about the same, even though he had taken a few hits.

Back in the fight, Cobalt decided to try a more close-quarters approach. He had moved in on Rudyard while trying to make him take wild swipes by moving from side to side and jumping back when one eventually came. He took a few more swipes, but Cobalt managed to deflect them with his poles. Most of them that is; one feint swipe caught him by surprise and caught his left arm, but Cobalt's Aura blocked most of the damage to his skin, a black hue covering his upper arm and leaving it undamaged. His top was torn, but he had others.

Much like the audience, Radiance gasped at the direct hit, looking immediately to the Aura bars, but neither had moved out of the green zone yet. That was the case until Cobalt began to seriously fight back, since Rudyard's defences had dropped after his sword had bounced of off Cobalt's arm. He saw his chance and began laying hit after Aura-enhanced hit into his sword arm, beating it enough to make him drop the sword and resort to trying to shunt his assailant away with his shield, but to no avail. With each successive hit, he was being forced back towards the far wall and closer to the floor, becoming increasingly thankful for such tough armour. By now, Cobalt's poles were both ablaze in his dark Aura, making them as though shadows were leaking off of them as he moved them through the air.

Soon enough, his centre of balance was so low that Cobalt could sweep at his legs and knock him onto his back, practically turning him into a turtle. As he fell, Rudyard lost grip on his shield and it skidded away onto the floor, clattering loudly as it went. Before he could chase after his protection, he was straddled by Cobalt with both poles aimed towards his face.

"I think I win, what do you think?" Cobalt whispered into his defeated opponent's ear.

He rose a little, looking Rudyard in the face as he tried to squirm free. Realising it was a futile effort, he gave in and nodded, prompting Radiance to step in end the duel.

"And there you have it, Cobalt Ravenscroft has triumphed over Rudyard Alberts," cheers and applause emanated from the crowd, all apart from the rest of ROYL that is, "what a good example of Aura use in battle boys, I'm sure everyone learned lots from that." Being the gracious victor he was, Cobalt offered Rudyard a hand getting up after he had stood up and off of him, but it was knocked away as the once-proud knight grunted in irritation. He stood up by himself and jumped off the stage to collect his sword and shield from where they landed, and then left to go back to his dorm.

Cobalt, too, jumped off the stage but re-joined his team, receiving hugs from Lily and Terra, then from Bailey. He sheathed his pole back into their mounts on his jacket before turning his attention back to the stage, where the next two fighters were already greeting each other. Velvet had been chosen to fight against one of the girls Cobalt didn't recognise, but she wore a distinct silver bow in her blonde hair. Velvet's fox ears twitched and she drew her knives out of her boots, taking in all the faces of the crowd before the battle began.

As they fought, Cobalt saw how only Lothar remained from team ROYL, Yin and Orpheus having disappeared not long after Rudyard. He thought that now he could talk to Lily in peace about their situation, "I think that should keep them off you for a while, now Lily," he smiled slightly as he whispered, the adrenaline still rushing through his bloodstream, "but they'll be back."

"I know," Lily whispered back, "but we'll be ready for them."

"That's the spirit," Cobalt smiled again as Velvet knocked the blonde girl across the stage using her own overly large axe against her.

After eight more battles, some singles and some double battles, the teams made their ways back to their respective rooms. All of team CBLT had fought, and all were equally exhausted. But rest was out of the question as they changed course away from their room and instead headed towards the function room. Somehow, Lily had managed to sneak off at some point and talk to Ashensand about using the room for a 'welcome to Beacon and the rest of your lives' party for three teams.

Miraculously, he said yes, and so Lily had gathered all her party planning things from her room and put them in the function room earlier. Oh well, no rest for the wicked.

* * *

**Locolocko: Hey guys, first of all, sorry sorry sorry sorry sorry for taking so long to update, been ground into the dirt by revision and such. **

**Cobalt: Take your time, why don't you? That dream was going on for ages, and it still didn't get to 'the good bit'.**

**Locolocko: Not my fault, I didn't write your dream. **

**Cobalt: Oh well, at least I put that pompous bastard in his place.**

**Locolocko: Glad you enjoyed it, but I'll make sure it wasn't the last time.**

**Cobalt: Good, I need a new training dummy. Time for you to leave your readers to get on with their lives.**

**Locolocko: Okay, cool your jets, I'm going. Enjoy weeks of party planning with the mad bundle of energy.**

**Cobalt: Oh joy.**


	5. Chapter 5

**Following Flawless Footsteps**

**Chapter 5 - PAR-TAY!**

Say anything you want about Lily: she may be loud, she may be hyperactive, and she may even be annoying at times, but, when she wants something done, it gets done. For example, just half an hour ago this vibrant room filled to the brim with pure party essence was just a dull, empty room with a dead spider in the corner. Now, there were streamers, balloons, snacks and huge, colourful beanbags filling every inch of the floor, walls and ceiling, and not a spider in sight.

Like a green blur fuelled by sugar and the yearning to party, Lily had flung her everlasting supply of rainbow decorations all over the room, almost invisible to her on looking teammates who just gaped in awe.

Following in the wake of hurricane Lily, the rest of team CBLT joined her to admire the flamboyant room from the only door in the room, now open so anyone passing in the corridor could see into what was essentially the inner workings of Lily's mind. There was one window in the room that overlooked the Emerald Forest, and even that had been jazzed up for the party with its very own streamer curtains.

"Well, I've got to hand it to you Lily," Cobalt said in awe as he rested a hand on Lily's shoulder, showing his approval of her work, "this looks amazing."

"You can say that again, Cobalt!" Bailey cheered as he ran into the large gathering of balloons in the middle of the room, "This is going to be such an awesome party!"

"I do try," Lily waved off the compliments and Cobalt's hand with a happy smile, "what do you think Terra?"

Turning to look at the large Faunus, Lily was surprised to find a large gaping space once filled by her large teammate. Moments later, a tap on her shoulder caused her to jump around in shock. Terra was stood with a malicious grin on her face, her hands hiding behind her back.

"It is _good_," she started, her grin shifting to a more playful one, "but a party isn't a party without… alcohol!" She revealed her stash, two large bottles of vodka glistening in the light of the rainbow room.

Lily gawped at the large bottles dangling just out of her reach, desperately trying to grab the forbidden substance – since they weren't 18 yet – but without success since Terra was much taller than her.

"Tut tut tut, naughty girl Lily," Terra teased, once more pulling the bottles above her head, "snatching doesn't get you anything." Lily conceded, dropping her head and arms in a display of defeat. "That's better hun, now say please."

"Please Terra; please can I have the bottles?" Lily begged, her innocent voice pulling at the larger girl's heartstrings.

"Aww, that's so cute," Terra swooned in front of the performance, "here you go." As soon as the bottles were in range, Lily had taken the alcohol and run into the party room, dispensing the vodka into the large pink punch bowl. "Take these too!" Terra shouted over to Lily as some plastic shot glasses were thrown her way, caught somewhat clumsily and stashed behind the bowl.

"How did you even get those, Terra?" Cobalt once more being the voice of sensibility. It was a fair point; none of them were 18 yet and Beacon didn't sell any form of alcohol on site, so she must have got them before arriving.

"Cobalt, have you looked at my chest recently?" Terra was far too matter-of-fact as she spoke, bringing a splutter and a blush to Cobalt's face.

"Well, I… I don't…" his thoughts were at a standstill as he forcefully stopped himself from looking at the breasts in question.

"Its fine hun, I know you all do anyway," she puffed her overly large chest up just to emphasise her point, "these work better than any ID ever could."

Sticking with looking slightly up at Terra's face, Cobalt just nodded sheepishly, desperately willing his blush to go away.

Half an hour later, VXEN arrived, shortly followed by VKNG. All eight of them were in their usual clothes: Velvet in her orange top and black boots, Xenovia in her multi-blue kimono, Eris wearing her multi-coloured blouse and skirt, Nala looking like a tribal princess, Violet being a purple mirror of Lily who she immediately joined by the speakers, Katie in her form hugging bodysuit, Nelly hiding behind her teammates in her frumpy attire and, last but by no means least, Gris was acting as the girls' escort in his formal suit and trousers. As the last of the guests arrived, the door was closed and the window was opened, allowing the cool night air to enter the soon-to-be very hot room.

Music began to play, though no one except the Blossom twins knew what it was, but it was a nice mix of pop, dance and electro that managed to appeal to everyone's tastes. Katie was first to the large open space in the middle of the room, unanimously designated as the dance floor, dragging Nelly and Violet in soon after. Lily naturally joined her sister and the other girls followed suit, dancing suddenly breaking out between the array of colourful people.

This left Cobalt, Bailey and Gris to stand and watch from the side-lines, gradually drifting around to the food table. Cobalt did try to warn Gris about the punch, but he decided to ignore him and down his sizeable glass in one go, and instantly regretting it. Even though the alcohol was diluted by the large amount of fruity punch, it was still strong enough to burn the back of Gris' throat in large amounts, something he was all too aware of.

His gagging and coughing drew the attention of some of the closer girls, specifically Katie and Terra. Naturally, they took the mick, laughing openly at Gris' idiocy, but he regained his composure enough to stand as tall as his teammate.

"Fine, why don't you two have a go?" he quickly filled up two fresh glasses for the girls, handing them to them with his usual cocky expression, "That is, if you think you can hold your drink."

Looking between each other to gauge their opinions, the girls shared a short nod before taking a glass each and looking back to the guys, "Oh, just watch us," Katie smirked as her and Terra clinked their glasses together and downed the vodka-punch in one long, burning gulp.

To the surprise of the guys eagerly watching, Terra and Katie just smiled, put their glasses back on the table and high-fived. It was fair to say, Gris wasn't expecting that, and neither was the punch bowl as five more glasses were filled by Cobalt and handed to the people gathered around the table.

Bailey had never even drank with his family, so he had no idea what he was getting himself into with such a strong drink. As soon as the burning pink liquid touched his tongue it came straight back out, spraying all over Cobalt. He was quick to apologise, reaching for the pile of napkins and cleaning up the mess he had made over his leader. Cobalt tried to push him off, but Bailey insisted he wipe the sticky punch off of Cobalt's face and chest, so he let him.

"Try again, Bailey," Terra said as she handed him a refill, "but this time, try to swallow." Naturally, this bought a blush to Bailey's face at the intended innuendo and Terra's wink.

"Ha, funny," he nervously replied as the other drinkers watched his second attempt with alcohol. Turns out _second_ time's the charm for Bailey as the drink was downed in one go, albeit a slow go, but one go nonetheless. Cheers erupted as the fifth empty glass was slammed down onto the table, earning the group weird looks from the dancers but no further attention.

Terra then remembered the shot glasses she gave Lily earlier and fished them out from behind the pink bowl, thinking the drink would last longer this way and more people could have some later.

Five new glasses were filled and quickly downed, the smaller amount of alcohol a blessing to the novice Bailey. Once more, the shots were filled and taken, and the vodka was starting to work its magic. Blushes were spreading through the group's cheeks and giggles soon followed, first from Katie and Terra then followed by the guys. Bailey was still nervous about the situation but his fears were soon dismissed by the shots and company.

Meanwhile, on the dance floor, Lily and Violet were showing everyone how to have a good time, _without _alcohol. Being the bundle of energy she was, Lily was throwing her sister around like a ragdoll as they danced together to the fast paced music. A large circle had been formed around them so no one would get hit by any stray Violet spins.

As the music slowed down, so did the spinning and the other dancers went back to enjoying themselves too, letting their exhausted muscles relax after the day's duels. Slow swaying was the dance of choice for most, Nelly, Velvet and Eris particularly enjoying this. Nala and Xenovia still had enough energy to rival the Blossom twins, so a small routine was quickly devised between the four of them to see who had the most endurance, almost as though they were still training.

A few hours past and the original drinkers were definitely enjoying themselves, the alcohol clouding their judgement and dancing. Others from the dance floor had joined and left with their own glasses of vodka-punch, while others had stayed for a few rounds of shots before reaching their self-set limits and joining the others at the beanbags on the other side of the room with plates of food.

Bailey, Cobalt and Gris had stayed drinking for the majority of the time but even they were beginning to reach their limits and had to stop. The music was still going on in the background, more electro and house than anything else at this point.

Finding space on the floor by the beanbags, the guys joined everyone else with their own plates of party food. Cobalt managed to wriggle himself in amongst the girls, much to both Gris and Bailey's disappointment. Gris shared a beanbag with Velvet while Bailey was left to sit in a gap in the group.

The conversation was lively soon after the boys arrived, the topics shifting almost seamlessly from boys to girls to weapons and family. Bailey was being quite quiet now, letting everyone else talk and joke with each other through a haze of drunken hilarity.

Soon enough, he got bored of not taking part in conversations and decided to excuse himself, "I'm going to get some air guys," he mumbled mostly to himself but loud enough so others knew he said _something_. He placed his food on the window ledge before staggering over to the door and shutting it quietly behind him.

At this, Cobalt zoned himself out of the conversation, something about Eris _accidentally_ cutting a tree in half with her ringblade. He was more concerned with how unusually quiet his teammate had been recently and decided to check on him, "I think I need some air too guys, back in a bit," he shouted – not knowing the volume of his own voice over the music – and picked himself up off of the ground. Others responded at Cobalt's departure, 'good bye' s and 'see you later' s in plenty compared to the silence as Bailey had left.

Getting out of the room was a struggle in itself, the door handle deciding to dance with Cobalt's hand as he tried to grab it. Eventually, he managed to out-manoeuvre the stationary handle and make his way outside, instantly noticing the change in temperature. Even though they had been sat by the open window, the function room was still very hot from all the dancing and people sat around. The corridor was like a welcome breeze on a summer's day to Cobalt, who just stood accepting the chilling air on his burning cheeks before looking around for Bailey.

Over to his left was a line of windows, all of which were open, and at the end the corridor opened up to the courtyard. Cobalt assumed that that's where Bailey would be so he let himself stagger out into the night air.

The moon was high in the sky, illuminating the courtyard and everything in it in an eerie light. There was a fountain in the centre, surrounded by benches all around the edge. Bailey was sat with his back to Beacon, facing the distant city of Vale with his head in his hands. It wasn't until Cobalt got closer that he could hear sobs and groans coming from the hunched-over figure. Bailey was crying! More determined than ever, Cobalt sped up his approach to comfort his teammate.

As he rounded the edge of the fountain, he cleared his throat loud enough to be heard over the splashing water and dripping tears. Bailey shot up in his seat at the sound, the tears still flowing down his cheeks as he turned to look upon the intruder. When he saw that Cobalt had followed him, he turned back to facing Vale and wiped his cheek with the back of his hand, hiding his red eyes from his leader.

"Bailey, mate, what's the matter?" Cobalt asked as he sat next to Bailey, "Feel like talking about it?"

"Yes please, Cobalt," Bailey choked on his words as he spoke, "but… promise me you won't laugh."

"As your leader, I promise not to laugh," he put his arm around Bailey to try and stifle the sobbing.

Bailey leaned into the embrace, sobbing into Cobalt's jacket before replying, "I'm sorry you had to see me like this."

"Its fine, Bailey, I didn't like the thought of you being alone. Any leader in my position would do the same thing," his voice was supposed to be a proud one, but the alcohol in his system made that a momentous challenge. It still managed to calm Bailey's emotions, just enough to stop the flow of tears.

"Thank you, but…" Bailey found his confidence failing him.

"Is it girl trouble?" Cobalt asked, looking down with a smirk on his face.

"Cobalt! This is serious!" his voice cracked as he spoke.

"It's Terra isn't it?" Cobalt probed further, "who could resist those?" As he spoke, he made groping motions with his hands.

"Cobalt please…" Bailey tried to stop the questioning, but he was cut short.

"Oh, it's got to be her, I knew it," he almost cheered at his 'victory'.

"No Cobalt, it's…"

"Oh, you like Lily, how did I miss it?" Cobalt slapped his forehead as he tried to think a bit harder.

"No, just sto-," Once more being cut off as he was speaking.

"Katie?"

"No!"

"Eris?"

"Stop this!"

"One more go, is it…"

"It's you!" Bailey screamed his secret into Cobalt's chest, his crying beginning anew.

Cobalt was stunned, his drunken thoughts not registering the information for a few moments. Silence feel over the two, the only sounds were that of the night and Bailey's crying. He sighed as the words began to make sense in his head, and how insincere he had been to his friend just moments ago.

"So, you mean…" Cobalt began, but the words escaped him as he spoke.

"Yeah, I'm gay," Bailey sat up from Cobalt's chest, awaiting the rejection, "feel free to hate me and never talk to me again."

"Now hold on," he was insulted that Bailey would even think that, "why would I hate you? You're still my friend, aren't you?"

"Well, yeah, it's just everyone else has rejected me when they found out, so I assumed-"

"You _assumed _wrong," Cobalt stopped him before he worked himself into another crying fit, "I may not be gay, and I'm sorry about that, but I don't hate you. I'm sure the others will be just as accepting."

"You can't tell them!" he pleaded as he finally looked back up to Cobalt, "I'm… I'm not ready."

"Then I won't force you," his arm was once more around Bailey's shoulder as he spoke, "it must have been hard for you to tell me then?"

"Well, I think our drinking game helped with that," Bailey replaced tears with blushing.

"True," Cobalt nodded at the recent memories, "so, why me? I would've though Gris would be more eye candy?"

"Huh, I guess, but you were just, you," Bailey began to fall over his words, "I can't explain it, but you just stood out. I wanted to make friends on the airship, so why not try my luck with you? It wasn't until we spent some time together I saw you as maybe more than just a friend."

"I get that, and thanks for talking to me on the ship by the way," Cobalt smiled, a genuinely happy smile, "I didn't think anyone would want to know me, let alone fancy me." He jabbed Bailey with his elbow as he finished.

"Please don't say that, it makes me sound like a weirdo," he giggled as his blush intensified.

"Fine," Cobalt conceded, throwing his hands into the air.

Bailey stood up, stretching his arms as he went. Cobalt stood up too, turning to look up at the majestic fountain before making his way over to Beacon. Bailey stayed outside, looking out over the forest, but Cobalt knew he would be fine so he left him to it.

Making his way back into the party room, the heat hit him first, then the smell of the alcohol, and finally the cheers of the tipsy occupants noticing Cobalt's return. He gave a wave before taking his spot between Terra and Katie, picking his food up from the window ledge as he lowered himself to group level.

"So where'd you get to?" Terra asked as she shifted closer to Bailey, a hint of seductive nature in her voice. _Yep, still drunk _Cobalt thought to himself.

"We were just having a chat outside, nothing worth talking about," he lied, remembering his promise to Bailey, "Bailey said he'd be in soon, just needed some more air."

"Oh, ok then," Terra's tone flipped, going to an innocent, playful voice that would give Lily a run for her money.

"So what you girls been talking about?" he gave the group a look, giving room for anyone to answer. Gris just appeared annoyed as he was counted as one of the girls.

A collective 'umm' rose from the group, no one seeming to remember what had been discussed. After a bit of thinking time, the whole group burst into laughter as not a single person could think of anything that had been said.

As the laughter began to die down, Bailey re-entered the room, the heat and scents hitting him first. Cheers soon rose up as the others took notice of him and he smiled at the attention. He took a seat on a beanbag with Xenovia, picking his plate up on the way. Despite her ladylike demeanour, Xenovia had hit the punch like the rest of them, becoming very affectionate to everyone around her. Bailey didn't mind the arm now around his waist which had pulled him in closer he lapped up the affection and put an arm around her shoulders, earning a giggle from the blue girl.

The party went on late into the night, until all the food and drink had been polished off and the music finally played out. VKNG and VXEN took their leave after helping to clean up, but Lily insisted that they get back to their rooms, since they were the guests. The main problem would be the smell; since alcohol wasn't allowed on site, the whole group could get in serious trouble, and possibly kicked out. Luckily, there were many cans of air freshener in the room.

Once more, hurricane Lily swept through the room, leaving a trail of overly fragrant mist behind her, as well as clearing away the remaining party decorations into bags and the far corner. What she couldn't bring back tonight, she would leave in here to pick up tomorrow.

The rest of CBLT helped where they could, but it was just easier and safer to wait outside the room with the door closed, attempting and failing to listen through the soundproof door. They could hear that there was noise, but it was all muffled into the same uniform sound.

Moments later, the sound stopped. Cobalt and the others stood back from the door, awaiting Lily bursting through. To everyone's surprise, Lily's exit was subtle, much like how any normal person would leave a room. She had a few bags in her hands but they did little to slow her down as she ran down the corridor.

"Wrong way, hun," Terra called as Lily ran towards the courtyard. She turned on her heels just before reaching the night air, sprinting back down the corridor and past her team, making almost no noise as she did. The others followed at a distance, letting her tire herself out before they would have to go to sleep. At least it was the weekend now, so no need to be up early in the morning.

* * *

**Cobalt: Ow, my head.**

**Locolocko: Welcome to the world of the hangover, my friend.**

**Cobalt: Shut up, I'm in pain.**

**Locolocko: You'll get used to it. **

**Cobalt: I'm never, ever, ever drinking again.**

**Locolocko: Right, I'll leave you to your pain then. Thanks for reading guys and let me know what you think in the reviews and I'll see you all soon.**


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